


Family holiday

by Metalsappho



Series: Metall/u/rgy [10]
Category: Metall/u/rgy
Genre: Astronomy, Cars, Exes, F/F, Gen, Picnics, Russian food, family holiday
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-17
Updated: 2016-01-17
Packaged: 2018-05-13 19:01:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5713543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Metalsappho/pseuds/Metalsappho
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ex-girlfriends Cobalt and Chromium go on a family trip with their daughter Stellite, but Chromium is still a bit puzzled by the peculiarity of the situation.</p><p>(Place in the timeline: present)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Family holiday

The day was still in its first half, but Chromium already felt spend. She got unexpectedly busy the day before and couldn't prepare the bags in advance, so she had to get up early to wrap everything up before going. She was nevertheless looking forward to the next few days, those family trips were always an opportunity to relax and recharge the batteries, and Stellite loved them, as it was a time when she had her two mothers at the same time. Going on family trips even after the break-up…did their split even count as one? Hard to say as it’s actually hard to pinpoint the exact moment of the break-up. Chromium figured it was the smoothest break-up in history, unlike...Chromium's heart ached at the thought of Carbon and Iron’s relationship that crashed and burned. Well actually it didn’t, Iron just left leaving the whole thing with no resolution at all, Carbon often describes the situation as “complicated” but Chromium would rather use the words “hopelessly tangled”. Carbon has never truly recovered from the blow and Chromium often comforts her (more often than not in bed) and acts as a guardian for Steel, the estranged couple’s daughter. Before she could get to the unexpected benefits with Carbon's family, a very distinctive horn pulled Chromium out of her drifting thoughts and the sudden excitement of a six-year old definitely anchored her attention to the situation at hand.

“Mama’s here! Mama’s here! C’mon Mom, c’mon, c’mon, c’mon!”

“Alright, alright sweetie, just let Mommy turn off everything, you’ll see Mama soon enough.”

Stellite’s face was one of utter elation with her eyes almost literally sparking and she couldn’t stay in place, thankfully Chromium was already almost done. Stellite could be a handful when she became this bundle of excitement, only Cobalt could calm her down, but it seemed as if Cobalt could calm anyone down. A few minutes later they exited the house, Chromium was carrying all the bags and was greeted at the door by the sight of a distinctively large blue and white car. At the back of it, a beaming woman was standing next to the opened split tailgate. Cobalt went to help Chromium with the bags but was intercepted by a running Stellite who dived in her arms. While Chromium covered the distance between the door and car, she took comfort in the view in front of her, Cobalt was as elegant as ever, she had a long deep blue skirt with a white light turtle-neck sweater completed with a deep blue opened cardigan, white boots and a large white hat. Cobalt had taken Stellite in her arms and they were both happily smiling and laughing as Cobalt covered the little girl with kisses and pats. When Chromium reached the car she exchanged a kiss on the cheek with a very shining cobalt.

“Hello there Chrome, you’re looking a bit tired.” 

“Yeah things were a bit hectic lately, I’m really welcoming the vacation.”

“It happens” said Cobalt with a concerned smile, “leave the bags here and get in the car, I’ll put them in the boot, and you too missy” she said, the last part to Stellite while dropping the girl and opening the rear door.

Chromium let out a big sigh of relief when she plunged in the soft seat and she quickly made herself at home. Meanwhile Cobalt was installing Stellite in the child car seat, gave her a tablet to occupy herself during the trip and loaded the bags in the boot. With that done, Cobalt got behind the wheel, put on her white driving gloves and they set off. As she made her way out of the city, Chromium couldn't resist to take a few jabs at Cobalt.

“You still use this car? Is it not inconvenient? It's quite old now.”

“Excuse me?” scoffed Cobalt with a mock offended expression, “You’re telling me that while owning an old Mustang?”

“Well it’s a personal car, but you also use it for work, so I figured you’d go for something like a modern van.”

“If I was to sell watermelons at the market, sure, but I’ve got enough space back there for even my biggest crafts.”

“Even the giant glass sculpture I saw in Gold’s garden? The thing was the size of the car! Congratulations by the way, it’s beautiful.”

“Why, thank you. That sculpture was actually an exceptional work, and I made it directly at Gold’s.”

“I see.” 

“My crafts are fragile, so I need a car with the gentlest ride, and isn’t this marvel such a nice place to be in?”

“It really is, but given the care with which you wrap your crafts, isn’t just a normal van enough?“

“Vans have leaf springs at the back which are as delicate and comfortable as a charging pack of rhinos in heat; my careful wrappings would be blown to smithereens within a few miles.”

Without a proper response, Chromium decided to retreat from the rear suspension front, and took the tease to a low and easy level.

“Do you take Platinum on dates in this?” 

Cobalt coughed and tried to hide her embarrassment.

“Hey, I’ll have you know that Platinum is a proper petrolhead and recognizes the brilliance of my car, but no, I use Sam’s 205.”

“Why’s that?” 

“Way more convenient, this is fine to park in a yard, but it’s too big and unnecessary for just going to the restaurant or the cinema in downtown. Plus a small car makes things more intimate” she said with a sly smile.

“Hoo I see," said Chromium teasingly, "so how is this seduction thing going?”

“It’s going, I think.” responded Cobalt while looking away from Chromium’s smirking face, “but just inviting her doesn’t seem to get the point across, I’ll have be more direct, way more direct actually.” Cobalt’s face took a resigned expression and Chromium knew what she was talking about.

“I heard from Nickel that she’s…somewhat oblivious about matters of love.”

"What did Nickel actually say?"

“’Dense as a bag of rocks' were her exact words."

“That’s actually an understatement, sometimes I even believe that she’s toying with me, but other times she shows genuine innocence and confusion about certain things…”

“Does that bother you?”

“Well it’s making things a bit lengthy, but it’s part of her charm.”

“I wish you the best, I’m serious.”

“I know you are Chrome” Cobalt gave Chromium a warm smile, “you always are when things are important.”

A minute of silence or two passed before Cobalt decided to crush Chromium’s illusions that she got away with not talking about Nickel.

“And what about youuuuuuu?” Chromium flushed

“W-what?”

“Yeah try to fool me and pretend you don’t have a very active se…bedroom life”

In the back Stellite was absorbed in her tablet, but Cobalt decided to stick with the euphemisms, and those were enough to make Chromium’s face visit the higher end of the light spectrum. Chromium’s very colourful (literally) emotional reactions were a constant source of entertainment.

“Well, I…”

“Do you have threesomes with her and Carbon?” Cobalt had the biggest shit-eating grin.

“Cobalt! I don’t think you have any right to talk about Carbon.”

“So Nickel is fine then? Alright let’s just talk about her. “

“You! “ Chromium’s face was now bright red.

“So? ‘fess up already.” Chromium was ready to explode but just deflated. Cobalt knew her, that devil, so she was better off just talking, plus she just probed her on the same subject.

“It’s…going well, Nickel helps me take my mind off things, and I’m very comfortable around her, Stellite too.”

“Do you have intimate moments together?”

“Y-yes.”

“Nice” said Cobalt with a grin.

“Oh please spare me your sarcasm.”

“I’m serious Chrome.” Cobalt put a comforting hand on Chromium’s shoulder, “I’m very happy you found someone to share your life with. As far as I'm concerned, I can just live in my work endlessly, but you, you need to have more than stress in your life.”

“I have Stellite.” the rebuttal was half-hearted, like she felt the need to make one, but without any substance to do so.

“You do, and Stellite is a wonderful girl, but it’s also a lot of responsibility for you who has main custody, and with responsibility comes stress, so having a significant other to help you is very important.”

“Thanks Co.”

“Any time Chrome, you’re still important to me, not as lover any more, but still as a friend.”

“Same here…Kobold.”

“Why you!” scolded Cobalt while nudging Chromium’s shoulder.

They both laughed and then silence settled on them, Cobalt focused of the road ahead and Stellite still focused on her tablet. Chromium meanwhile was contemplating the landscape. She let her thoughts wander off, mainly about the conversation she just had, or more exactly how that conversation would look like for an exterior person. Said exterior person might be wondering what exactly is wrong with them; they aren’t a couple and haven’t been one for years, they are even pursuing their own romantic relationships, Chromium with Nickel and Cobalt with Platinum. And yet they go on family trips, joke, tease and bicker like an old married couple. Chromium started to think that they are in fact an old married non-couple but that was nonsensical so she dismissed the thought. Her mental quest to figure exactly what she and Cobalt were slowly drowned in her growing fatigue and quickly enough, she fell asleep. 

Chromium opened her eyes and took a few moments to fully wake up. She looked around, and found that the car was parked on the side of the road, next to a grove. Stellite and Cobalt weren’t there but their belongings were still in the car and the key was left in the ignition. Chromium got out and found beautiful weather, the sun was shining and the sky was deep blue without a cloud in sight. The sun was high, so Chromium guessed it was past noon and Cobalt must have stopped to eat. Chromium got out and started stretching her numb muscles, and soon two familiar shapes emerged from the grove, with the smaller shape darting towards Chromium to hug her legs.

“Mom, we found apples !”

“Nice job sweetie.” said Chromium as she knelled down to hug Stellite.

“The sleeping beauty woke up from her slumber?”

“Yup, now I’m a hungry beauty.”

“The beauty is in luck, Sam made for us her best borsch and pirojkis and I’ve got sour cream, shall we eat?” 

“Yes!” nearly yelled Stellite.

Lunch was lively, they set a blanket on the grass field and ate there while chatting, laughing and playing. It was only in the mid afternoon that they wrapped up everything and hit the road. They reached their destination at dusk, it was a nice bed and breakfast situated near a picturesque lake with mountains in the background. The scenery was beautiful and it was soothingly peaceful, Chromium was already beginning to feel refreshed and she'll be fully charged when she goes back to her everyday life. But before that, dinner, preferably a rather substantial one.

Later in the evening, Chromium was reading a book on the bed. Cobalt went out with Stellite, so Chromium had only books to occupy her mind. However her mind knew full well how to occupy itself, and the words just bounced on Chromium who was basically just staring at pages before turning them and repeated the process. Her situation with Cobalt was for some reason occupying her mind. It's not that she misses their time together, nor is it about Stellite, so what gives? Maybe it's just a labelling problem, maybe it really is as stupid as that, Chromium feels the need to put a name on things, and her relationship doesn't quite fit any of the usual ones but at the same time seems to fit all of them. She abandoned her book - she had turned about a dozen pages and couldn't remember any of them anyway - put on a jacket and went out. She was greeted outside by a chilly atmosphere but also the most magnificent sky she's ever seen, no clouds in sight but instead an endless number of stars, shining proudly in their deep blue frame. Chromium stayed there with her mouth open as her eyes, and all of her mental faculties were entranced by the majesty of the night sky, her mental debate was washed away and for a few minutes, she just contemplated this amazing spectacle. Eventually she was taken out of her reverie by the sting of cold, so she set about finding her family. She walked for a while but Cobalt told her where they were going, however Cobalt used the car, and she had to walk. Ultimately she found the top of the hill and the presence of Cobalt's antique car immediately reassured Chromium. Cobalt and Stellite were a few yards further, they where observing stars with an expensive-looking telescope, some astronomy magazines were open on a small folding table, and a very motherly Cobalt was exposing facts to an impressed Stellite. While Stellite was busy looking at some heavenly object through the telescope,, Cobalt turned to greet Chromium.

"Hey there, came to see the stars?"

"A bit, but mainly to get you two back to the room,, it's still early spring and the nights are chilly, especially in the countryside."

"Sure, chief, but not before you have a look at this."

By that point Stellite had heard Chromium's voice Chromium's voice and abandoned her observation to hug her mother, leaving the telescope free for Chromium's use. 

"Look here, and be amazed" commanded Cobalt.

Chromium executed both orders; she looked in the telescope and her mind was blown again. What she saw resembled art and photos she saw about planets with rings, but this one was actually the real thing, this was an actual planet that she was seeing directly, and it was beautiful with majestic rings circling it. She was mesmerized for a minute or two, Cobalt had the time to put the table in the car by the time she returned to the more immediate world.

"Did you see it?" asked an excited Stellite, her eyes were as full of stars as the sky.

"Yes, do you know what it is?" 

"Saturn, it's the sixth planet and the second largest." said proudly Stellite.

"It's incredibly beautiful, but not as beautiful as you, dearest." said Chromium while affectionately patting Stellite's head.

Stellite's face reddened and her smile seemed to continue all the way to her ears. She was incredibly happy but also embarrassed so she hid her face against Chromium's tummy, and stayed there until Cobalt had packed up everything and was already behind the wheel. The trip back was slow but the atmosphere was dreamy, and Cobalt was humming with a joyful melody, before she looked over at Chromium.

"What's up Chrome?"

"Huh? Nothing, why you're asking?"

"Well you keep gazing at the world with a melancholic air, I'm sure it's nothing serious, but something is certainly occupying your mind."

Chromium didn't reply immediately, but after a beat, said "What are we, Co?"

"Two beautiful women" replied Cobalt with a smile.

"Well yeah, but what is our relationship? We're not a couple, but we tease and argue like one, we're exes butwe go on family trips together..."

"Does that really matter?"

"Somewhat, yeah, I mean it doesn't really annoy me, but it often distracts me, and I feel I need to find an answer."

"Well I won't really help, I've given up putting labels on relationships. You know I've had many girlfriends, and yet in some aspects I'm closer to Sam than I've ever been with any of them, does that make Sam comparable to my girlfriends? Not at all, Sam is my best friend but you could say she's beyond that while not being a girlfriend."

"What is she, then?" Chromium didn't asked to have and answer, but to give Cobalt ground to expose her point.

"Who knows and that's the point, we just are. Labels are born when a bunch people do the same thing, sometimes though, things get a bit in-between labels, but since only a handful are in the situation, that doesn't warrant a label, but that's okay, labels are convenient but not the be-all end-all of relationships."

Chromium nodded thoughtfully.

"Plus being with Carbon and her collection of lovers gives you a live example, several in fact, of a non-standard relationship."

Chromium reddened suddenly and opened her mouth, but Cobalt had anticipated her reaction.

"I say that seriously Chrome, the girls who are with Carbon all have their own reason to, your reason is not the same as Nickel's and the same can be said for the others. All those reasons are human ones and they're all different but valid."

Out of steam, Chromium mumbled a "I suppose so" and went silent, her thoughts working in her mind. A few moments later they arrived at the B&B and they all went in their room. There Chromium pulled Cobalt into a gentle hug, she would've rest her head on Cobalt's shoulder, but she was shorter than her so she just buried her head in it. Cobalt returned the hug, not knowing why Chromium did it, but she figured and explication would soon follow, and sure enough:

"Thank you" said Chromium."

"Any time Chrome, you're still important to me, I never saw Tungsten and Aluminium after the break-ups, and I don't want to same thing to happen with you, I'll be here to support you any time."

"I know, you're important for me too, Co." 

A small hand tugged at her blouse and Chromium looked a Stellite who was silently asking to join the hug.. Cobalt picked her up in her arms and Chromium closed the hug, the little girl giggled as her mothers showered her with kisses.

"You're my family and I love you." said Cobalt to both Chromium and Stellite

"I love you both too." replied Chromium "Shall we all sleep in the same bed tonight?"

"YES!" yelled Stellite while embracing her two mothers. 


End file.
